Where is everyone #5

I ended up going with Tripacs, but at one time with less money had equipped one truck with a 2000w Honda suitcase and a portable a/c. MIght have been 12k btu? I'd have to dig it out an look.

The gen ran it ok, but when the a/c starts up it hits the gen hard. If you use the eco setting to idle it down, the start surge will stall the generator. The other, related thing I had to deal with was the a/c had a built in circuit breaker. With the generator sagging with the startup hit, low voltage would trip the breaker. I put in a bigger starter capacitor and that got it to run reliably with the generator eco switch on the global warming setting.

If you get out to Georgia any, I have two portable a/c you can choose from to take with you for free. May as well put them to good use. I'll even throw the suitcase generator in my pickup for a live demo. But the generator ain't for sale LOL. That I use often.

If I had to do it over again right now, I'd give those 3000w HF generators a real hard look.

Just my opinion nobody asked for, but I didn't take the sad comment that way.

On the surface, I see it as the difference between someone who can't do their own repairs, fabrication, etc and someone who can but doesn't.

The first one who can't. Well I can't imagine that because by the luck of the draw my Dad taught me the basics and forced me to do enough jobs the hard way. He learned it from his Dad and two older brothers. Grandpa probably did it because when he came up there just wasn't any money and he was forced to. So what? A lot of dudes don't have a Dad or father figure who is a handyman. Maybe they're good at something, just not fixing or building stuff. Nothing wrong with that.

For the one who can but won't, maybe there's a time factor. Or not having a suitable workspace. Or maybe just done enough of it in their life they feel like they earned the right to pay to watch someone else bust their knuckles and sweat all over everything. More and more I'm in that last group.

If you dig in a little, it's a function of our way of life getting more and more dependent on disposable things. One of these examples came up for me recently. Who here has rebuilt an alternator? LOL. I can remember when the parts needed to do it were more available at the auto parts store than a ready to bolt on new or reman unit. Now? Forget about it. I got another cousin's little Jeep Patriot sitting under my shadetree with a dead alternator. A reman for that booger is $300! The job isn't a rush, and I'll probably end up scouring the internet for bearings, a brush kit, and a regulator. Why am I doing this? Because I can, and it burns my behind to have to pay $300 for the reman, even if it isn't my money.

But, I totally get why others would fork it over, and not judging that decision.

 

Yeah, very beautiful country up there.

 

Here here! Well said.

 

Yep, and our project is across the road an just downstream. We are reclaiming a portion of the dredge tailings and restoring the river.

 

Looking goooooood Shooter!

 

For fire fighting?

 

Great post. I am old enough to have rebuilt alternators and starters. Even a generator on my old 56. It wasn’t hard and it was cheap.

However, I’m guilty of putting new parts on my truck when the old one was fixable at times, but that’s just when we are busy and I’d honestly be money ahead to get it back on the road in a hurry. In the middle of a job the only time to work on stuff is when I really need to be sleeping. Lol.

 

What year? We worked up there in 2015 and 2016, and then again last year. I probably saw your truck!